Today’s blog is not about a country star. This one’s personal.
It has been one hell of a year for all of us at Stephens Media Group. So many shocking and tragic events happened in 2009, which none of us could have foreseen in our wildest nightmares.
In May, our afternoon jock, Bud Green, lost his two daughters and unborn granddaughter in a horrific car accident. Two other young people died in the Memorial Day weekend crash. I’ll never forget getting that phone call from my boss the morning after it happened. I couldn’t believe it was true. How could that happen to someone I know? It was horrible, unthinkable, senseless. Bud, his wife Jackie, and their three remaining children endured the worst tragedy that could possibly befall a family. As Bud’s friends and coworkers have said a million times, “I cannot even imagine.”
Summer brought more sadness. George Neher, a local broadcasting legend and morning show host on our sister station, WTNY, became ill in June. George, who almost never took time off, suddenly stopped coming in to work. All of us suspected something must be terribly wrong, but George was a very private man, so we were left to draw our own conclusions. Finally, we were informed that George had lung cancer. We were shocked, needless to say, but we held out hope that he might beat it and some back to work one day. Unfortunately, George passed away in August. Since his funeral service was held in Buffalo, none of us had a chance to say goodbye.
Around the same time, Jim “Jimbo” Pettiford, the PD and afternoon personality at another of our sister stations, Z93, got sick. He was losing weight like crazy, but none of knew what was wrong. He kept it under wraps for as long as he could. Finally, the ugly truth came out: Jim had liver cancer. It had spread everywhere in his body and it was inoperable. Jimbo wound up living longer than his doctors predicted. In the meantime, his coworkers watched in horror, as he grew thinner and gaunter every day. He was little more than a walking skeleton near the end, but he still came to work, in spite of the indescribable pain he was in. When he made the announcement to Z93 listeners that he was dying from cancer, it was probably the most powerful thing I’ve ever heard on the radio. Jim passed away a few days before Christmas.
In addition to these high-profile deaths, many other members of Stephens Media Group experienced the loss of loved ones in 2009. One Froggy 97 jock and a woman in the sales department both lost their dads, while a part-time air personality lost his mother. Others lost in-laws.
It just doesn’t seem natural that so many deaths could happen in such a short period of time, and within one specific workplace. I also can’t explain the lack of happy events that might have balanced out these tragedies. Our SMG family had one wedding and one baby born this year, but the burden of grief far out-weighed the rare instances of joy. It is logical to ask: “Why?!?” But there are no answers and no reasons.
My mother always told me to “look on the bright side” of things. In 2009, that bright side was pretty elusive. I’ve never been so eager to jump out of one year and into a new one. I’m going to burn all my calendars on New Year’s Day. I can’t pretend the last twelve months didn’t happen, but it’ll be my way of saying “good riddance.”
2010 has to be a better year. It certainly couldn’t be any worse. Maybe that’s the bright side.
I dedicate this song and video to those we have lost in 2009, and to those us who miss them.
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